The Little Merman
by Joanie Dark
Summary: A retelling of the classic fairytale featuring everyone's favorite Persona-summoning investigation team. Some sensitive subject matter, Kanji/Naoto.
1. Disclaimer Page

Prologue: Warnings and Thanks

This story updates Wednesdays. If I finish a section early, I may post it early, but I guarantee you, I will have at least one section of this story uploaded every Wednesday until I'm finished with all three endings.

Before anything else, a quick warning: This story is loosely based off of Hans Christian Andersen's classic, The Little Mermaid. There might be a bit of creepy and sad in this. There will be references to happy Disney songs though, so don't fret.

This story, in tribute to Persona and the many retellings of TLM, has multiple endings. Please read each "Ending" chapter as a separate ending so you won't be confused.  
Finally, **_THIS STORY CONTAINS HOMOSEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER CHARACTERS._** Hope my character interpretation doesn't offend anyone.

I'd like to thank safelybeds for creating the beautiful picture (.com/art/i-don-t-even-know-mer-edition-188042608) that inspired the comment thread which led to the creation of this fanfic. Also, of course, thanks to the Persona team, Atlus, Disney, and Hans Christian Andersen.


	2. Chapter 1: Naoto, The Merman

_The ocean is a fierce, dangerous mistress. It is well known to anyone who sails these waters that a high number of accidents occur on the sea's waves daily, drowning large numbers of humans and clasping their lives in its cold, watery hands. _

_But are they truly accidents, or could they really be…murder? Murder most foul…It is I, the merman Naoto Shirogane, who shall be the one to unveil the crimes of-_

"Naoto! Quit your internal monologue in that silly little cave of yours and get out here!" a voice called.

"Ah…coming!" Naoto quickly fastened the kelp that bound his chest and swam out of the cave he had been daydreaming in. The other finned teenagers were already waiting at the cave's mouth, grinning.

"Really, dude," Yosuke started, ruffling the younger fish-boy's blue hair, "if you want to investigate things like a real detective, you can't go staying in your cave all day." The other teenager, a boy who's name seemed to always change from day to day but was rumored to actually be Souji, nodded in silent approval.

"I was analyzing some evidence about the ships that have recently been coming into our—"

"Right right, enough talking, more moving!" Yosuke said, and turned to swim in another direction. "Yukiko and Chie are waiting for us at Junes. You don't want to leave a girl waiting, do you?" He winked and started swimming off. Souji, on the other hand, paused first to pat Naoto on the back and wordlessly roll his eyes at their companion before following the ginger fish.

It wasn't long before the three arrived at the strangely architectural piece of coral that served as a center of commerce for the small cross-species society. In addition to being a place where sea-people would exchange their hard-earned seashells for electronic devices and other things that seem very impractical for a water-dwelling race to purchase, the natural wonder was the main meeting spot of many young merpeople.

It was both out of the sheer popularity for the venue and the convenient fact that Yosuke's family owned the "building," so as it were, that the three mermen and their two companions of the fairer sex claimed the food court of the place as their secret base. This was, of course, a code word to mean "place where they talked about humans who were thrown into the ocean and drowned."

As with most days, the three boys saw their female friends resting with their tails curved around rocks, eating some delicious mass-produced chain-store food at a stone disk that somewhat resembled a table.

"Oh, good! The boys _finally_ showed up," Chie managed while munching on her food. "I was afraid we might actually have to pay for our lunch today!"

Yukiko picked at her food with a look of concern. "You know…isn't it a tad odd that we're eating tuna steaks?" she asked, and the short haired mermaid stopped for a split second.

"Let's…let's not think too much about that…" she mumbled, then turned cheerily to the boys. "So, what do people think about all the humans falling into the water recently?"

"What else would I think? It must be a murderer." Yosuke nodded his head vigerously. "I bet they're choosing their victims based on who they see on TV!"

"…what's a TV?" Yukiko asked curiously.

"Uh…" was Yosuke's intelligent response.

While usually quite the person to be engrossed with crime-solving drama, if only to tell his friends they were fools who were going about their investigations like children instead of detectives, Naoto found his mind drifting. While the drowning cases were no doubt interesting, there had been one case of particular interest recently that he had been studying. After all, unlike the other cases, he was a major part of its plot.

It had been a few days prior when Naoto had been sitting in the little cave he had designated as his own. In general, the place was a neat, tidy one that looked much like the bedroom of the average teenager, with a few minor exceptions. One was the stack of notes on cases that he and his friends investigated which sat upon the corner of his desk, another was the small box of seaweed bands he used in order to change his apparent gender. Though both a tad unusual (notably the binding materials, as a boy who binds a female chest looks obviously different from other frolicking shirtless mermen) they were minor and not particularly out of place. However, the oddest thing about his room was the collection he had started acquiring over the course of the investigations.

Naoto had noticed, along with the unnecessary clothing that humans wore which undoubtably made them sink faster as they grew heavy with water, many of the drowned corpses that turned up had interesting things that fit snugly upon their heads. He had learned through his research that these odd things were called "hats," and had become fascinated with the things. Whenever he managed to find one of the things, he picked it up immediately and brought it back to his house. While the others found it an odd habit for him to wear them, he honestly thought they made him look rather fetching, and they put a tune in his heart whenever he tried them on.

It was one such day when he was donning a navy newsboy cap and humming a song about being where people walk and run and stay all day in the sun, he heard a faint splash from somewhere above him. He glanced up through a small hole in the roof of the cave to see a shape slowly sinking down from the surface of the water. He gasped and, cap still on his head, quickly darted out of the cave.

Luckily, he managed to make it to the sinking human in time. Grabbing onto the body's arm, he swam with all the speed he could muster up to the surface, breaking through the water with a remarkably photogenic splash. Quickly, he checked the breathing and pulse of the human—he appeared to still be alive, which let the young merman breathe a sigh of relief. Looking around and not discovering the boat he fell from, he sighed and started the arduous swim towards the shore.

Naoto tossed the human onto the sand when they reached the shore before he actually bothered to look over the person he had rescued. It was a boy about his same age, though he looked older. His hair was blonde and cut short, and he dressed in a manner Naoto was not used to seeing, dressed all in black with a skull emblazoned upon his chest. There was a cut above his eye—an injury acquired in the incident, perhaps?

Naoto had found himself rather entranced with the young man, staring at him for far too long. It wasn't until he heard a female voice cry out that he looked away. Eyes wide, he saw a red-headed human girl making her way towards them. Without thinking, Naoto whipped off his cap, placing it on the boy's head, and dove back into the sea. He waited behind a rock offshore, peering at the scene as a confused young woman ran up to the young man, and then ran off to call for help. Satisfied that he would live, Naoto swam back towards home, and had been thinking about the incident ever since.

Naoto was literally snapped back to the present by his silver-haired companion snapping his fingers in the younger merman's face.

"Earth to Naoto!" Chie said. "Sheesh, what's up with you?"

"You're not usually the type to start daydreaming," Yukiko said. She had a look of concern on her face.

"Ah, it's nothing…" Naoto said, putting his hand to his chin in thought. "I was just thinking of an incident I had never mentioned to you four regarding a young man I found _alive_ the other day…"

"Really? Alive?" was the general reaction of the table.

"You have to tell us!" "Did he know anything?" "Is he the culprit?" "…!" came a barrage of questions vocalized by the two more excitable members of the group, and expressed without words by their silent leader.

"You should definitely give us details…tomorrow," Yukiko said, nodding her head. "It's getting dark, and we should all head home soon."

"Oh…yeah…" Chie muttered, looking out of the coral structure at the darkening ocean. "I heard if we're out too late, the sea witch might come with her shadow minions and turn you into one of them…"

"Spooky…" Yosuke said darkly, then looked at Naoto seriously. "Really though. Tomorrow you have to tell us." With that, the little group dispersed.

Naoto started swimming towards his home, but he paused for a moment. The sea witch…she could actually prove useful. Perhaps, being a being of such rumored power, she could aid in their quest to find out about the recent increase of bodies floating about. He was sure he could deal with the witch somehow, should the need arise…and so he found a rock to sit upon and waited.

And waited.

As night fell, the sea became an inky black. Still, Naoto sat on the rock, shivering slightly and waiting. If the witch existed, though as time went on he was starting to question its likelyhood, he knew she would be able to find him.

He was, of course, right. Right as he was about to think that Chie was a liar incapable of determining fact from fiction with her little brain of hers, he felt something odd crawling over his tail. In the darkness, he could barely make out the form of a black slime of some sort sliding across his scales, donning a frightening teal mask. As he stared, a voice purred into his ear:

"So…I heard you wanted to talk about murders."

Naoto stiffened, and someone laughed. Suddenly there was a light, and the slimy…_thing_ slithered away from Naoto desperately. He cringed, and the voice laughed again. He relaxed, however, when the person lurking behind him swam around and revealed himself.

"Mister Adachi," he sighed, and the merman smiled.

"You really should be at home at this time of night," Adachi said, playing with his jellyfish-lit lantern with his red and black tail. "Dangerous things lurk out in the night, you know. The sea witch might get you!"

"I am well aware, sir," Naoto said curtly. "I actually happen to be awaiting her arrival."

Adachi looked taken aback. "Is that so? Why would you want to see the witch?"

"It's as you say," Naoto said, expression unchanging. "I wish to talk about murders. The bodies of the young women that have been falling into the sea lately; we suspect they weren't accidents. While humans aren't too terrible a concern to us, my friends and I can't just sit back and allow this to happen."

A grin slowly curved on Adachi's face. "In that case…what would you say if I could show you the witch's lair?"

Naoto almost showed his surprise, but managed to keep a straight face. "So she is real, then?"

Adachi picked up the lantern in his hands and gestured for the youth to follow him. "You'll just have to find out, now won't you?"

It took a surprisingly short amount of time for the two to arrive at their destination. It looked like at some point the mass of wood could have possibly been part of a ship, but it was old and rotten. Naoto looked mildly uncertain as he followed the elder merman into the wreckage. Inside, the place was surprisingly in decent shape, and some sort of glowing plant had been allowed to grow along the decomposing portions of the ceiling. In the center of the room was a marble statue of a woman in robes with wavy hair, whose expression was both sympathetic and somehow dangerous. Naoto looked at it inquisitively.

"Is…_this_ the witch?" he asked. "I must say, while a beautiful statue, she's not exactly what I was expecting…"

"Of course Izanami is not the witch," Adachi said, and as Naoto turned to look at the man, his eyes widened with mild horror. The slime-like creatures were starting to crawl into the room, directly towards the man. A few of the things latched onto him, oozing over his tail and chest and arms as the oblivious man grinned. "Izanami…just gave the witch _his_ power."

Naoto swam back, hitting the statue. He flinched.

"This isn't possible…You? You're the—"

"What a clever boy you are!"

"No…how could you, a man of the law, be turning people into shadows?" Naoto said, his voice now tinged with rage. Adachi shook his head and swam closer, now covered in the crawling creatures.

"Silly boy…I have no interest in that. People turn themselves into shadows. While I do prefer the shadows, I still have the prerogative of helping merpeople, not hurting them." He gave a cheery, innocent-looking smile. "I saw the other day, you realize. That human you found." He slowly started to circle Naoto and the statue. "You seemed rather entranced with saving him. You don't care too much about the murders at all, you were just bored and wanted a case to solve. But this man…you're quite interested in him, are you not?"

Naoto blushed slightly. "I don't understand…"

"You're of that age," Adachi chuckled. "It's no shame to fall in love, tiny detective. No, don't protest!" He put a finger to Naoto's lips when he tried to interrupt. "It's really not that hard for me to tell. I was your age once before, after all!" He laughed, looking up towards the heavens as if reminiscing. "Anyway. It's no shame to fall in love. Even if that person is a man. Trust me, I know that's not an issue of importance. Though a human…well, that's an interesting story. What good would it do for a merman to fall for a human? You'll only get your heart broken by him…that is, unless you were a human boy as well."

He leaned in close, then whispered. "I'll make a man out of you."

Naoto looked horrified, and Adachi laughed again. "Oh dear, that came out completely wrong!" He swam back, laughing, as the shadowy monsters slid off him, making a sound similar to laughing themselves. "No, I mean that I could give you what you need. I have the power to replace that tail of yours with their bizarre legs. Just to make the deal better for you, I could even take away that little matter for you," he said, gesturing towards the young merman's chest. Naoto thought about it for a moment, still staring with mild terror.

"That would be asking a miracle," he said slowly, controlling the fear in his voice. "What are the downfalls of this deal with the devil?"

"Ah, not much. Your human form will be painful, as will the transformation itself. Your human form is conditional upon that boy as well—if he marries someone, your heart will break and you'll die the next morning. That will leave you as nothing but seafoam floating on the ocean. Are you willing to risk it in order to be with him?"

Naoto hesitated to answer. "What benefit would you get by helping me?"

"The feeling of happiness at helping young love?" Adachi said. Naoto merely stared at him. "Not believing it? Well, it's true. I do require some repayment…hm, but what?" He acted as if he was pondering the matter. "How about…your voice?"

"My voice?"

"Yes, your voice! It's far too feminine, don't you think? You wouldn't be wanting that at all. It would just make your prince charming look at you strangely, wouldn't it? Yes, your voice is all I'll need. What do you say?" Adachi extended his hand, his expression one of kindness and innocence."

The gears turned in Naoto's head as he went over the information in his mind. Slowly, hesitatingly, he extended his hand to shake Adachi's. The older man laughed as one of the shadowy beasts jumped up and wrapped itself around their wrists, causing Naoto to let out a girlish scream.

"Haha, you won't be doing that again anytime soon!" Adachi said, his eyes glowing golden as the grin stretched across his face. "It was nice doing business with you, boy. I hope you like your new condition…you damned, doomed bastard."

A searing pain rushed suddenly through Naoto's body, and before he could even let out another scream, he blacked out.


	3. Chapter 2: Naoto, The Human

"Hey, kid! Are you alright?"

Naoto slowly started to return to consciousness as the speaker shoving his shoulder. The voice was slightly gruff, but still gentle and with a touch of concern. Adachi-rather, that _witch_ as he turned out to be-must have done something terribly wrong. His body still burned all over, and his fin felt like it had been sliced up with glass. He tried to will it to move; nothing happened. Naoto winced, then opened his eyes.

He was shocked to see the boy he had rescued several days before staring right back into his eyes.

"Good…you're not dead…" the blonde said, his face relaxing into a little smile. Naoto attempted to say something in response, but found himself unable to utter a word. At first, he thought it was just the fact that he was unable to muster up the words to talk to the strange man, but upon trying to even utter a hello, not a sound came out. Naoto put a hand gingerly to his throat, and the young man beside him frowned.

"Hey, are you ok?" he said, the worry returning to his face. "You washed up looking like you had drowned." He looked away then, his face a bit flushed. "I…uh…don't know how you lost your clothes, either…but I covered you up. My family runs a textile store so…well."

Sure enough, Naoto looked down at himself and saw he had been covered with a large, silky blanket. He ran his fingers over the fabric, then peaked under curiously. If his voice had disappeared, perhaps the other changes had come to pass?

A smile crept slowly across Naoto's face as he saw the most obvious change. His seaweed binding had fallen off at some point, but his chest was still smooth and flat as if it was in place. His eyes traveled down his torso, growing wide at the more severe changes that had taken place. Focusing as hard as he could on his new legs, he somehow managed to make his feet twitch. He smiled at the small success, then looked up to the blonde and extended his hand.

"Oh…you need help up?" The boy grabbed Naoto's hand gingerly, pulling him to his feet. Naoto winced and opened his mouth in a small, silent scream, feeling as if the phantom shards of glass were being shoved into his feet. Still, he managed to bite his lip and bare it, clinging to the blanket he was wrapped in with one hand and to his companion's arm with the other.

"You alright?" the blonde asked again with concern. Naoto nodded in response, carefully walking in place a little to get used to the strange new movements. It was only after the man next to him cleared his throat and moved his arm a little that he realized quite how close he was to the boy he had been so fascinated by. It was Naoto's turn to go red, and Kanji smiled a bit.

"Starting to come around, huh?" he said gently, pulling his arm from Naoto's grasp and wrapping it around his shoulder. "You seem like the waves really knocked you out or something. Let's get you back into town, huh?" He started walking, carefully and slowly to accommodate for the shorter youth's awkward steps. "Maybe things will start to clear up in your head by then."

It wasn't too particularly long before Naoto found himself sitting in a small, warm living room, dressed in proper clothes just a tad too big for him, and attempting communications with the young man he had come to know was named Kanji. They had established a system in which Naoto was able to write what he meant to say, showing himself to be far cleverer than many people in these transformative stories where the cost is one's voice seem to be. There were some difficulties at first—while two species sharing the same language also shared the same writing system, the concept of working a fountain pen was far different from writing with more appropriate tools for underwater usage, causing Naoto to take some time to even be able to properly write his name. Still, with a little effort, conversations were quickly becoming quite fruitful.

Of course, Naoto fabricated a few things when he was telling his situation to the other man. Knowing that he would be considered insane at best, hunted as a rare species at worst, he decided to leave out his lineage as a merperson. His voice was explained away as a mere birth defect, his location on the beach due to washing up on shore after crashing a small sailing vessel, and the fact he had ever met Kanji before was swept completely under the rug.

"So you were out looking for the people who have been drowning recently, huh…" Kanji said, his mind seeming to be somewhere else. "I suppose it has seemed a bit unusual how many people have been lost at sea since the Izanami sank." Naoto's eyes went a little wide, recognizing the name from the incident with Adachi.

Naoto took his paper and scribbled something desperately onto it, shoving it into Kanji's hands.

"Tell me everything you know about the Izanami…? There isn't really much I know. It was one of those old trading ships that was still being used…well, until recently. Oh, and it sunk not long after Rise got off it and moved here, but that's not that important…"  
Naoto snatched back the paper and slapped down his response.

"Who's Rise? Oh…she's my fiancée."

((A/N: Ahaha, story took on a life of its own, and there miiight just be a subplot with a magical Shadow-ship now. :B Making this story longer, more dramatic, and less like the original Little Mermaid than before~))


	4. STATUS MESSAGE

Hey! It's JD. Just putting out a couple noticed into the interwebz for anyone watching this story right now.

Unfortunately, this story is ON HIATUS. I still love the fandom, but I have other projects that have taken up my interest. At some point I do plan on writing more, but I'm unsure when. My gravest apologies.


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